Meaning: Its source is ceorl, an Ancient Germanic name meaning "Freeholder."

Languages: This girl's name is used in English.

Nicknames: Char, Charla and Charlie

Alternative Spellings: Charleen, Charlien, Charline and Sharlene

Variant Forms: Charlaine, Charlanna, Charleesa, Charlena, Charlina, Charlyn, Charlyne, Charlynn and Shalene

Popularity: The name Charlene ranked 220th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census.

This name is highly rated in the 1990 U.S. Census popularity survey of all ages, but after 1960 does not appear in the state data listing the most popular baby names.

Narrative: Of all the feminine forms of Carl (and its equivalent Charles), the oldest is probably Carolina, which developed in Latin as a feminine form of Carolinus, itself an elaboration of Carolus.

Carolus Magnus was the Latin name of the first Holy Roman Emperor, a Germanic leader known in the English-speaking world as Charlemagne (French for ''Charles the Great''). He was crowned emperor in 800 A.D., after uniting much of central Europe and building a relatively stable society out of the chaos that followed the fall of Rome.

Charlemagne's widespread fame gave rise to many forms of his name in many languages. Each male form suggested a female equivalent, which in turn changed and developed, so that we see Carolina changed to Caroline, shortened to Carol, and so on.